July 25, 2011

WIld Life

We Lake View too!

photo - CBS local

In the late 19th century wild life could still be found and hunted along the lakefront. In the 21st century it would seem wildlife is returning but this time well protected either in an enclosed area such as the Bill Javis Bird Sanctuary or just nesting along a residential building.

The article below tells a tale of wild life in Chicago 1922

City Dwellers Should Learn

to Get Along With Urban Wildlife

By Peter Alagona in 2015

In recent years, a host of charismatic wild species, the coyote being only the most famous, have returned to American cities in numbers not seen for generations.

Despite their reputations, large wild animals are just not very dangerous. By far the most dangerous animals in North America, as measured in human fatalities, are bees, wasps, and hornets. Next are dogs—man’s best friend—followed by spiders, snakes, scorpions, centipedes, and rats. The most dangerous animal, globally and throughout human history, is undoubtedly the mosquito. Coyotes are nowhere on the list.

Read more about this from an article by the New Republic via Friends of the Chicago River on Facebook.

A female deer was found in the courtyard of a building in the 600 block of West Barry Avenue in the summer of 2011. Residents who live in the building were excited to see such an unusual sight. Read more about it from the link above and/or the commentary below.

“Tonight I looked out my front window and thought I was seeing things... there was a real, live deer in my neighbor's front yard on the 700 block of West Briar Place. The whole neighborhood and passersby were astonished to see a very tame deer casually eating the neighbor's hosta plants.”

“Somebody yelled down at me and called me, and a couple of people all at once, saying we had a deer in our courtyard. I thought they were pranking me. I was certain I was being punked,” said Bruce Alan Beal, a resident of the building. “But sure enough, I came out, and there’s a doe. She’s probably 3 or 4 years old, and she’s sitting in the back of our courtyard, kind of hunkered down against the edge of the building.”

But this deer incident is anything but an isolated one. Apparently, deer, rats and intoxicated party-goers aren’t the only ones running wild in your neighborhood at night, according to Steve Sullivan, curator of urban ecology for the Chicago Academy of Sciences at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Lincoln Park. The Lincoln Park Zoo also tracks local animals through its Urban Wildlife Institute.

“This happens every single day in the city of Chicago,” Sullivan said. “We have photographic evidence of deer, beaver, white-footed mice — you name it — all this interspersed very regularly in all of our neighborhoods throughout the city.”

But how exactly do these wild animals — which locally also include coyotes, foxes, opossum, raccoons, skunks and many bird species — get here? Sullivan says any patch of trees serves as their highway, until they get to an area in the city when they can no longer hide.

While the city's Animal Care and Control department had previously pledged to leave the deer alone unless they began to pose a threat or were injured, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Thursday that area residents' offerings of nourishment threaten the animals' safety as the deer become comfortable enough to settle more permanently in the area and resist re-entering the wild.

“We just asked people not to feed them. Unfortunately people did not heed our advice," department commissioner Cherie Travis told the Sun-Times.

The city's Animal Care and Control Department had some concerns about tranquilizing the mother deer since she's still nursing her two fawns, but city officials wanted to find them a safe new home before the Gay Pride Parade which is two weeks away.

Many residents couldn't remember when they first noticed the spot caked in poop, though they all agreed that no other tree in the area bears the same fruit ... read more.

Other Creatures of Nature

Reclaiming Wrigley Field 2011

“The scary thing is that they didn’t seem afraid. You’d think they’d be cowering, but they didn’t seem vicious,” Byington told reporters. “Some people were laughing, and started following them, but they didn’t seem concerned. They seemed to be checking out the neighborhood and enjoying it.” - Read more about it with this link.

Indeed, on a recent Saturday morning, Dacey Arashiba showed a
visitor a Peregrine falcon nestled in a hanging flower pot just outside the
window of his 28th-floor apartment. The bird's companion had temporarily flown
away 10 minutes earlier. Last summer,
the birds attempted unsuccessfully to stake their place outside Arashiba's
apartment. Three weeks ago, the pair of Peregrine falcons returned to
Arashiba's balcony overlooking Belmont Avenue. "It's amazing, and kind of
flattering, that they're back," he said. Arashiba first noticed a Peregrine falcon perched on the
ledge of his kitchen window five years ago. Over the next couple of years,
Arashiba enjoyed catching glimpses of the creature. "It never startled me.
I just always thought it was really cool," Arashiba said. - DNAinfo 2015

"We don't just want them to learn about it; we want our students to be able to experience it, act on it and realize the part they can play in it and actually have fun doing it," said Burley's Principal Catherine Plocher. "Bringing sustainability concepts to life, no matter
how big or small, makes the concepts come alive," Plocher said. "By
making learning hands-on, students' understanding of sustainability concepts
becomes three-dimensional, tactile and more memorable.

'A Mediterranean restaurant that closed in East Lakeview earlier this month left behind an aquarium that now has some neighbors concerned.' There are fish still swimming in it ... but the water is running low. Read more with this link. Less than week later concerned citizens helped resolved it.

There have been other creatures walking the streets of Lake View lately. Also, check out how Lincoln Park Zoo is using a tracking system of our new urban visitors.

Narrative & Navigation

This has been a passion of mine for several years. This passion began with a simple inquiry of an ornate gate that surrounds a parking lot on my street. This singular inquiry lead me to learn everything I could online about the history of my neighborhood - Lake View, one of the 77 neighborhoods within the City of Chicago. Consider this topical blog as an online library of information for educators like myself who intend to teach others about this historical & robust corner of Chicago. I hope you enjoy the read and add any type of comments at the end of each post. I have a Facebook presence called 'LakeView Historical'.